This invention relates to valves for controlling the flow of fluids, and particularly to block-and-bleed valves assembled together to form manifolds for controlling the flow of fluids from multiple sources to multiple delivery destinations. Certain concerns unique to the dairy food processing industry are addressed.
It is common in the food packaging industry to have a need to connect a number of sources of a fluid, such as different types of milk, to a number of different filler machines to fill containers, such as gallons, half-gallons, quarts and so on. To date, these connections have been accomplished in the form of a manifold, including a number of lines from the source tanks crossing a number of lines leading to the filler machines, with the valves being provided to permit or prevent flow of fluid from any selected, one or more of the source tanks, to any chosen, one or more of the filler machines. This arrangement creates a need for an extremely large number of valves, however. For instance, a single manifold connecting ten source tanks to ten filler machines, would use over a hundred valves to accomplish the control which is necessary and desired.
In processing dairy food liquids, it is particularly important that the pipes, valves, and related equipment be periodically sanitized, but applicable regulations require that, where food products and sanitizing solutions are simultaneously present in the same system, that at least two closed valves always separate the two fluids in order to absolutely minimize the possibility of inadvertently intermixing them.
This invention relates to improvements to the apparatus described above, and to solutions to some of the problems raised, or not solved thereby. Briefly, the invention provides a manifold valve assembly, composed of a plurality of valve subassemblies, each of the subassemblies including at least five valves. At least a first one of the valves in each subassembly is in fluid flow communication with a supply source, and at least a second one of the valves in each subassembly is in fluid flow communication with a fluid distribution conduit and at two of the valves in each subassembly, when open, discharge fluid into a drain or clean-in place fluid collection conduit. A fifth valve, when closed, separates the first and third valves from the second and fourth valves, the valves being interconnected by fluid flow conduits to selectively allow flow of fluids from the supply source to the distribution conduit and to prevent flow thereof to the atmosphere.